Hindustan Motors and Mitsubushi Motors have finalised the launch of the Pajero sports utility vehicle in India.
The Pajero will hit the roads in September this year and will sport a price tag of around Rs 22 lakh for the base version.
The C K Birla group flagship, Hindustan Motors, is planning to import the Pajero -- internationally termed an offroader -- in the completely built unit (CBU) form, notwithstanding the higher levels of import duties against the completely knocked down (CKD) or semi knocked down (SKD) options.
Confirming the development, B K Chaturvedi, president of Hindustan Motors, said: "Although the Pajero has a tremendous brand value, we will initially import it as CBUs. We will consider CKDs and SKDs later on, taking the sales volumes into consideration."
As CBU imports are currently not allowed in the 1,000-2,500 cc engine capacity range, only the diesel versions of Pajero will be available during the initial period.
The company is currently considering the 2835 cc turbo-diesel variant for imports, as the petrol version is available only in the sub-2500 cc category. Needless to say, the company will be targeting the Pajero at upmarket customers.
Auto analysts feel the Pajero will create a new segment in the premium car market. "With the likely introduction of many other premium cars in the D segment around the same period, the overall sales volume may not be as much as HM would expect," said an analyst.
Hindustan Motors, which has a license agreement with Mitsubishi, currently offers the Mitsubishi Lancer in the C segment (cars priced between Rs 5-10 lakh) and its own Ambassador in the B segment (Rs 3-5 lakh) of passenger cars. Among its other offerings are light commercial vehicles (loaders and truckers) and rural transport vehicles (RTVs).
